


Every Day For A Year

by danrdarrenc



Category: As the World Turns
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-18
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-10-20 21:31:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20682242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/danrdarrenc/pseuds/danrdarrenc
Summary: On the one year anniversary of Reid's death, Luke gets a wonderful surprise in the form of a man standing in the rain.





	Every Day For A Year

Luke is in the kitchen, at the sink cleaning the dinner dishes, when the sky opens. He smiles and stares out the little window over the sink; ever since he was a child, he has loved the sound of the rain pounding against the roof and windows of the Snyder Farm.

Tonight the sound is exceptionally welcoming and calming; the one-year anniversary of Reid’s death, getting through the day had been difficult, the temptation to drink strong.

Abandoning the dirty dishes, Luke makes his way out of the quiet farmhouse, grabbing an umbrella from a stand on the porch, and heads towards the pond; watching the rain splash against the surface of the water had always been a favorite past time.

He walks slowly down the path that leads to the pond, his sneakers squelching in the wet grass and puddles in the dirt. As his feet carry him closer to the pond, Luke thinks he sees someone standing on the edge, staring out at the water. Frowning in confusion - he is the only one awake at the farm, or so he had thought - Luke hurries his steps. When he’s ten feet from the edge of the pond, Luke’s heart stops along with his feet.

Through the rain, Luke can make out the back of a man with auburn curls.

“Reid?” Luke whispers, unsure if he can be heard above the pounding of the rain.

The mans turns at the sound of his voice.

The umbrella slips out of Luke’s hand.

“Luke,” Reid says, a smile spreading across his face, apparently unfazed that he’s dripping wet.

A strangled cry claws its way out of Luke’s throat.

“Reid?” Luke repeats. He wants to reach out, to touch this figment of his imagination, but he’s frozen in place with shock and something like despair.

Like a dream, Reid closes the distance between them but, impossibly, frustratingly, doesn’t touch Luke.

Up close, Luke can see the blue of Reid’s eyes - the eyes that were given to somebody else - the water clinging to his eyelashes, his lips - lips Luke has longed to kiss for a year - turned up in a soft smile. He can also see he’s breathing.

After a beat, Luke raises a shaking hand. His fingers brush against Reid’s cheek and Reid’s eyes flutter closed.

“You’re really real?” Luke asks, his fingers now pushing Reid’s wet hair off his face.

Reid nods.

Luke isn’t sure who moves first - he thinks it might be Reid - but suddenly they’re kissing. Luke’s arms are tight around Reid’s neck, Reid’s hands are digging into Luke’s hips, and Reid’s lips are blissfully, perfectly real. Luke feels more than hears himself whimper against Reid’s mouth; Reid responds by deepening the kiss and sliding his arms around Luke’s waist, pulling him closer.

They kiss for what feels like hours, the rain beating steadily down on them. Eventually, they break apart, their foreheads pressed together, their eyes still closed.

“We should go inside,” Reid says quietly, barely audible above the rain.

“Promise you won’t disappear?” Luke asks, equally quiet.

Reid nods against Luke’s forehead. Then he slides his hand into Luke’s and coaxes Luke back up the pathway to the house.

* * *

Inside, they leave a trail of water, from the front porch to the kitchen, up the stairs, in the hallway, to Luke’s bedroom. On the way, Luke grabs a towel from the bathroom to dry them off.

“You probably have a lot of questions,” Reid says, finishing carding the towel across his hair and handing it to Luke.

Luke takes it, swipes it across his hair, drops it on the floor unceremoniously. “Yes, but right now I don’t care. All I care about is that you’re here.”

Luke touches Reid’s face gently again. Reid smiles softly and blinks at Luke, waiting. “I missed you,” Luke whispers, and lunges forward to catch Reid’s lips with his, his arms flying around Reid’s neck.

Reid returns the pressure, his arms snaking around Luke’s waist. In the next second, Reid’s knees are hitting the edge of the bed, reflexively forcing him to sit, his face tilting up to keep ahold of the kiss, Luke’s tongue lapping at his mouth, insistent. His legs spread automatically to allow room for pulling Luke closer, their chests flush.

They make out for a long while, slow, and yet not, Luke’s hands clawing at Reid’s back, pulling on his drying curls, eventually sliding forward to find the buttons on Reid’s shirt.

Reid pulls away, breathless, eyes blown wide, to look at Luke, even as Luke’s fingers continue to make quick work of the buttons. “Are you sure?”

“God yes,” Luke says on a breath before kissing Reid again and sliding the now-undone shirt off Reid’s shoulders.

* * *

“I missed you, too,” Reid says after, when they’re curled up together, spent and sated, Luke’s head on his shoulder and Luke tracing circles on Reid’s chest.

Reid’s fingers dance across Luke’s collarbone and into his hair. “How long was I gone?”

“A year, today. You died,” Luke answers quietly, somber.

“They didn’t tell you I was alive?” Reid asks, incredulous.

Luke shakes his head against Reid’s shoulder and Reid swears under his breath.

Luke shifts his head slightly to look at Reid. “Who’s ‘they’? What happened to you?”

“What did they tell you?”

Luke hesitates, the pain still raw and real, even curled up in Reid’s arms. “I - after - after you flatlined they took you away to give your heart to Chris.” As if to assure himself it’s not a dream, Luke’s hand drifts over to where he can feel Reid’s heart beating. “Alison told me the surgery went well. And then they gave me a list of all these other people who were getting your other organs.” A beat. “Your eyes. Your skin.”

Reid swears again. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that.” Reid’s fingers flutter into Luke’s hair, comforting. “You know, I was kind of wondering why you hadn’t come to find me.”

“I would have,” Luke insists. “God, I absolutely would have.”

“I know,” Reid says, his mouth curling into a soft smile, his free hand finding Luke’s on his chest.

“What really happened? Where were you?”

“I don’t remember everything but at some point Damian showed up.”

“Damian?!”

Reid nods. “I remember being in the hospital with you and then I don’t remember anything until waking up in a different hospital. That’s when Damian showed up. He told me he took me from Memorial and gave me some drug to revive me.”

“What kind of drug? Why didn’t they give it to you at Memorial?” Luke asks, indignant.

“It was an unsanctioned serum he got from some Frankenstein doctor. He said it was lucky I didn’t get amnesia. Thinks maybe because I was brain dead.” Reid shrugs, nonchalant about his own death. 

“You believed that?” Luke raises an eyebrow, a smirk playing at his lips. 

Reid snorts. “I’m here, aren’t I?”

Luke smiles and nods. But then the smile fades. “But it’s been a year.”

“I had to get my strength back. My body had atrophied. I wanted to see you but Damian wouldn’t let me leave until he was certain I was healthy.” A pause. “He didn’t tell me he let you believe I died, though.”

“I haven’t spoken to him since he was locked up - or I guess not - but he probably thought he was doing me a favor, not getting my hopes up.”

“I love you,” Reid says by way of response, vulnerable in the way he is with Luke.

Luke’s eyes shine, close to tears, overwhelmed by the turn of the night’s events, and his life.

“I love you so much, Reid.”

Reid smiles softly again and ducks his head to press his lips to Luke’s. The kiss is lingering, unheated, full of everything they’ve missed saying to each other for a year.

When they break apart, Luke shifts his head into a more comfortable position on Reid’s shoulder and is asleep on a sigh. Reid follows shortly after. 

It’s the best sleep either has had in a year.

* * *

Luke blinks awake at the sounds of the farm waking up: Emma in the kitchen cooking breakfast, roosters and chickens cawing outside, Holden shuffling his way out to the barn to feed the horses.

As his brain fires back into consciousness, last night’s events flood back to him. The warm pressure at his back and arm draped across his waist signal that it hadn’t been a dream.

Shaking out a breath, Luke gently turns himself around under Reid’s arm to watch Reid sleep. Luke’s eyes rove over Reid’s face, peaceful in unconsciousness, and his hand comes up to brush his fingers feather-light across Reid’s cheek.

“Morning,” Reid mumbles, eyes still closed.

Luke’s lips pull up into a soft smile, his heart full. “I didn’t mean to wake you,” Luke whispers.

“Light sleeper,” Reid responds, opening his eyes.

“I dreamed about this,” Luke admits quietly. “Every day for a year.”

“Me too,” Reid admits, in his soft way reserved only for Luke. The hand tucked between their bodies finds Luke’s where it rests on Reid’s neck and tangles their fingers together. Then, “You know, I was kind of worried you’d be with Noah when I came back.”

Luke’s eyes darken and his smile falters. “I told you. If I wanted to be with Noah, I would have moved to California with him.”

“A year’s a long time.”

Luke shuffles closer so they’re nose-to-nose. “I love you,” is Luke’s answer, the conversation turning more somber and serious than Luke expected at 6:30 in the morning. “He kissed me, you know? Before he left. A week after you - died. I hated him for it for a long time. I don’t think I talked to him for six months after that. I think I’ve talked to him maybe twice since then.”

“He’s probably offended you didn’t follow him out there like a puppy dog,” Reid says, trying to lighten the mood.

Luke’s lips pull up into a smile and he huffs out a laugh. Reid’s eyes sparkle as he laughs with Luke. 

After a beat, Luke says, “You have nothing to worry about with Noah. He was my first love and a big part of my life for a long time, and at one point in time, I did think I’d spend the rest of my life with him. But we fell apart long before you stormed into my life -”

“You mean before you blackmailed and kidnapped me?” Reid deadpans. 

Luke’s laugh tinkles around the bedroom, his eyes alight with life and happiness. 

“Before I blackmailed and kidnapped you,” Luke continues, still grinning and shaking with laughter. “It wasn’t love anymore. For either of us. You completely took me by surprise, Dr. Oliver.” The endearment tastes like candy melting on his tongue. “Loving you and being loved by you made me a better person, a stronger person. This year was really hard and I wanted to drink a lot. But I didn’t because I knew you wouldn’t want me to.” When Reid only blinks at him, Luke says, “Sorry. I know you hate sappy stuff.”

Reid shakes his head against the pillow, silent in overwhelming emotions. Swallowing against his thundering heart, Reid presses his face forward to kiss Luke, the arm still draped over Luke’s waist pulling Luke impossibly closer. When they break apart, they stay close, their foreheads pressed together, eyes closed, breathing each other in, their hearts beating in tandem. 

Suddenly, Reid’s stomach growls, loud in the peaceful silence settled around them. 

Luke bursts into laughter, his eyes popping open, and pulls his head away to look at Reid. Reid laughs with him again, every nerve in his body firing with pure happiness.

“Emma makes the best breakfasts. She’s going to love feeding you.”

Reid grins. “What’s your family going to say when I appear in the kitchen?”

“They’ve seen people come back from the dead before. They won’t even be fazed,” Luke says matter-of-factly, extricating himself from Reid to find clothes discarded on the floor.

“This town, I swear,” Reid mutters, also pulling on discarded clothes. 

“They’re gonna be happy that I’m happy,” Luke says seriously, walking across the floor to where Reid is standing smoothing down his shirt, and sliding his arms around Reid’s waist. 

Reid’s arms wrap around Luke just above the circle of Luke’s arms and they sway a little on the spot. 

“I love you,” Reid says simply. 

“I love you too.” Luke kisses Reid again, quick, feather-light. “Ready to become a part of my crazy family?”

“As long as they keep that promise of food,” Reid responds. 

Luke laughs, light and free, for what feels like the hundredth time in the last twelve hours, and pulls away, his hands sliding over Reid’s arms to find Reid’s hands. With laced fingers, Luke leads Reid down the stairs into the kitchen to break the good news to the Snyders congregating for breakfast. 


End file.
